With the stench of corruption hanging heavily over Labor, some of the party’s elders – including respected senator John Faulkner – are pushing to reduce the control and influence of unions and the all-pervasive factions which run the party. This is desperately needed but it is not enough. As Senator Faulkner pointed out, Labor has lost the ability to control and run itself.

As this newspaper has said before, Labor would be better off without union involvement, just as the unions would be better off without the Labor party. As it is, the two institutions are intertwined and despite the diminishing influence of unions as workers’ representatives, Labor remains dominated by the agenda of the union movement. The union movement’s agenda is not in the long term economic interest of the nation as a whole. This has resulted in a serious decline in the quality of policy and of political leadership in this country.

The union movement and Labor politicians are beset by evidence of extensive corruption. Former NSW Labor power­broker Eddie Obeid and disgraced former minister Ian Macdonald are now being investigated by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption over the manipulation of mining approvals in a deal that enriched the Obeid family by tens of millions of dollars. Labor MP Craig Thomson has been found to have misused union funds on a grand scale as an official of the Health Services Union. And Bruce Wilson, a former AWU official and former boyfriend of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, has been involved in fraudulent use of union funds, with Ms Gillard caught in the scandal because, as a lawyer in the 1990s, she gave him legal advice on how to set up the association which housed a union slush fund.

Senator Faulkner lamented that a culture had developed in NSW Labor where “being caught out at sharp practices is almost worn as a badge of honour”. He says the Labor party should replace its committee system with an independent, external tribunal to deal with party disputes – in other words, adopt the rule of law – and make the preselection process for parliamentary seats more democratic. At present, as he noted, party decisions, including pre-selections, are dictated by a “tiny coterie of union and factional leaders”. This compares poorly with the Liberal party, where the rank and file, through the party branches, still have a considerable say in the selection of candidates, although informal factions do influence preselections.

But despite their good sense, Senator Faulkner’s comments have met with a mixed reception. NSW Labor factional chiefs will meet tomorrow to decide whether a special state conference is required to reform the culture of the branch. Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has asked how it would be possible to legislate away sub-groups of the Labor party. But Finance ­Minister Penny Wong, Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes, NSW Labor Party secretary Sam Dastyari and Senator Doug Cameron support the push for reform as does former prime minister Kevin Rudd. As prime minister, he was not part of the faction system, but his successor, Ms Gillard, is very much a product of it.

The union movement has many good officials who work hard for their members, but others are able to run their unions for political ends, rather than in the interests of their members. With few checks on union officials – compared to public companies – the reporting requirements of unions are rudimentary. Politicking and the pursuit of power and influence can too easily turn into corruption. The slush account that Mr Wilson dipped into came from companies slipping funds to union officials ­presumably in the hope it would fix their industrial troubles. The Construction Mining and Forestry Workers Union has recently tried to pressure the trustees of CBus, the default fund that its members contribute to, to sever its links and investment in ­property developer Grocon.

There are also many good offices and Labor party members who work tirelessly for their party and have the public interest at heart. Some of Australia’s finest governments have been Labor governments, both federal and state. But the party’s control by factions and the union movement is destroying it. Labor leaders know this, yet a series of reports on reforming the party, by luminaries Bob Hawke and Neville Wran and by former premiers Steve Bracks and Bob Carr, gather dust. Simon Crean, as Labor leader, tried to cut union influence at ALP national ­conference but was defeated.

Kevin Rudd criticised the factions who were then instrumental in his removal as PM in June 2010. Ms Gillard has sat on these reports and done nothing. She has no interest in attempting to reform her party, preferring to preside over its demise.